Ribosomes are the granular structures first observed under the electron microscope as dense particles by George Palade (1953). They are composed of ribonucleic add (RNA) and proteins and are not surrounded by any membrane.
The eukaryotic ribosomes are 80S while the prokaryotic ribosomes are 70S. Here ‘S’ stands for the sedimentation coefficient; it indirectly is a measure of density and size. Both 70S and 80S ribosomes are composed of two subunits.
